Money Matters Authorities Eye Whether Rush Limbaugh Laundered Money Used to Pay for Drugs By Brian Ross Nov. 18 Nov. 18 - Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh may have violated state money-laundering laws in the way he handled the money he used to buy the prescription drugs to which he was addicted, law enforcement officials in Florida and New York told ABCNEWS. Authorities say they became aware two years ago, during an investigation of New York bank US Trust, that Limbaugh had taken between 30 and 40 cash withdrawals from his account in amounts just under $10,000. NY Post. November 19, 2003 -- Conservative radio-show host Rush Limbaugh may be in more big, fat trouble for possibly violating state money-laundering laws while trying to hide the fact he was buying scores of painkillers to feed his addiction. Authorities said that during a probe of New York's U.S. Trust Bank two years ago, they discovered that Limbaugh had made between 30 and 40 cash withdrawals from his account that each totaled just under $10,000, ABC News reported last night. "My behavior doesn't change right and wrong. And just because I may have been doing something that appeared to be contradictory to what I was suggesting others do doesn't mean that what I was suggesting others do is wrong." "I took the drugs because I liked them and I found excuses to take them…” - Rush Limbaugh, November 17, 2003 “There is a phenomenon of patients getting an addiction to pain medication. And that’s another reason why pain patients turn to medical cannabis…If someone has had a tendency toward addiction and opiate therapy, then medical marijuana is the choice for them. “So my suggestion to Rush Limbaugh would be maybe he should look into medical cannabis therapy.” - Steph Sherer, director of the pro-marijuana Americans for Safe Access “This business about me being hard on addicts – may I be honest with you? The truth of the matter is I avoided the subject of drugs on this program for the precise reason that I was keeping a secret." - Limbaugh, November 17 Limbaugh Rips Drunks and Fast Food “Addicts” Rush Limbaugh commentary, July 21, 2003: Last week, I brought you the junk science study making the absurd claim that fast food is as addictive as heroin. I mean, when's the last time you heard anybody holding up some little kid for three bucks to go get a Big Mac? Now this from UPI: "Glasgow, Scotland - A dozen alcoholics ranging in age from 18 to 60 are going to sue drink makers for not warning them about the dangers of alcohol.... Attorneys representing the group said they will employ tactics used by attorneys representing cancer victims in suits against tobacco companies in the United States." I just don't believe it! Attorney Jim Price said, "Alcohol is now promoted in the same way that cigarettes were in the 1950s. Manufacturers want us to believe that drinking alcohol is sexy and trendy." Yeah, Captain Morgan is the new Joe Camel. You know, there's this problem of not accepting responsibility for what you do. Somebody else is always to blame for the decisions you make. It's just maddening, this mentality to blame someone else for your thirty-seven adult beverages a day, and then find some greedy lawyer to buy you a ticket for the big-money lawsuit gravy train. “We’re becoming too tolerant, folks.” - Rush Limbaugh, October 5, 1995 FROM THE WEB SITE OF CONSERVATIVE RADIO TALK SHOW HOST MICHAEL GRAHAM, NOVEMBER 17: HEART-BREAKING QUOTE OF THE DAY: "There is no hypocrisy here." Rush Limbaugh. Ouch. As a Limbaugh-wannabe, I don't even know how to respond to this. It's one thing for Rush to simply decline to address the topic of his hypocrisy over the past six years. But to DENY it? At length? At one point in his show today, he addressed the issue of hypocrisy directly ("There are those who claim I've been a hypocrite..."), and he rejected the charge by saying that, just because he's not perfect doesn't mean he's not right about the issues. No dispute here. But for Rush to say that his rejection of these principles (respect for the rule of law and base self-indulgence) is NOT hypocrisy means that he doesn't expect anyone to take these values seriously. Mr. Bennett said that Mr. Limbaugh deserved to be judged less severely than former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat and perennial Limbaugh target, who was impeached in 1999 over his deceptions regarding an affair with a White House intern. "He's not president of the United States," Mr. Bennett said of Mr. Limbaugh. "He's not blaming his accusers. He's not lying. He's not lying under oath." "He was manly," Mr. Bennett added of Mr. Limbaugh. "He was straightforward."     - New York Times, 11/17/03 "The message Limbaugh has always directed at his audience has been one of personal responsibility," said Joseph Cappella, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication. "Well, he has taken responsibility for his behaviors - but only because he got caught." - Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/18/03 “Due to the fact that Mr. Limbaugh has always been extremely opposed to drug use and legalization, this occurence will definitely play a powerful part in the outcome of the war against drugs, hopefully in favor of us drug proponents.” - posted at www.smokedot.org “Rush Limbaugh's recent confession of drug addiction seems like a major victory for the community of drug users and supporters. Limbaugh has always taken a very zealous stand against drugs, and countless people respect him for this and hang on his every word. For the war against drugs, this is as if in the 1850s General ‘Stonewall’ Jackson of the confederacy suddenly removed a mask and admitted to being black. Now that in our war, one of our opponents best commanders has been taken down, we hold an advantage.” - posted at www.smokedot.org “It’s time to start championing old-fashioned values like fidelity, chastity, sobriety, self-restraint, self-discipline and self-reliance, and responsibility. Is that so unthinkable? Is that too much to ask?” - - Rush Limbaugh, “See, I Told You So,” 1993, page 100 “Rather than punish criminals appropriately and effectively, we rationalize and excuse their lawless behavior.” - Rush Limbaugh, “The Way Things Ought to Be,” page 170 “The point is, we have an increasing number of people in this society who want to go through life without facing the consequences of their actions, who want to do everything for their own convenience, regardless of how it affects anyone else.” - Limbaugh, page 173 …we make excuses for hedonism and antisocial behavior. Then we end up making excuses for violent crime. We excuse people from all personal responsibility for their actions.” - Limbaugh, page 174 “The mainstream media has compared this latest episode with Limbaugh to others who have fallen from grace, including fictional preacher Elmer Gantry and televangelist Jim Bakker. But the comparison made most often over the weekend was with one of the premier conservative voices in the United States today: Bill Bennett. Considered a friend to Limbaugh, he admitted last spring that he had a gambling addiction.” - Talon News, October 13, 2003 1993: Bill Bennett releases “Index of Leading Cultural Indicators,” documenting 30-year decline of US culture in 14 areas, including drug use and crime. 73,000 calls requesting copies received in 48 hours after Bennett announces study on Rush Limbaugh Show. Clintonite Center for American Progress names Limbaugh the “Recipient of the First Annual Bill Bennett Hypocrisy Award.” Limbaugh said about Kurt Cobain, who died of a drug-induced suicide, “…he was a worthless shred of human debris.” Limbaugh on rock star Jerry Garcia: “another dead drug addict.” “The fact that he [Limbaugh] hadn’t overdosed and died is amazing. You build a tolerance and your body will take it but then there comes a point when you can’t take it anymore and your body goes into shock and you die.” - Former Drug Enforcement Administration agent “Wilma Cline, and her husband, David Cline, told The Enquirer for its latest edition that Limbaugh bulldogged them into supplying him with thousands of painkillers between 1998 and 2002. They said Limbaugh took hydrocodone, Lorcet and OxyContin. “Authorities believe some of Limbaugh's supply was dispensed from a small suburban Lake Worth pharmacy, World Health Association. The couple that ran the operation, Gloria and Louis Beshara, were arrested in May, seven months after the Clines came forward. The Besharas currently face trafficking charges… David Cline has a criminal history. He was arrested in 1982 in Collier County for cocaine trafficking, serving five years in prison. In 2000, he was arrested on charges of identity theft -- using the name George Earl Taylor -- of possessing a fake driver license and fake vehicle registration, as well as possession of marijuana and resisting arrest. He served 18 months probation.”      - Palm Beach Post, October 4, 2003 “I want to let you read along with me a quote from Jerry Colangelo [who bought the Phoenix Suns following a team drug scandal in 1987] about substance abuse, and I think you’ll find that he’s very much right…‘I know every expert in the world will disagree with me, but I don’t buy into the disease part of it. The first time you reach for a substance you are making a choice. Every time you go back, you are making a personal choice. I feel very strongly about that.’... What he’s saying is that if there’s a line of cocaine here, I have to make the choice to go down and sniff it….And his point is that we are rationalizing all this irresponsibility and all the choices people are making and we’re blaming not them, but society for it. All these Hollywood celebrities say the reason they’re weird and bizarre is because they were abused by their parents. So we’re going to pay for that kind of rehab, too, and we shouldn’t. It’s not our responsibility. It’s up to the people who are doing it. And Colangelo is right.”     - Rush Limbaugh, 9/23/93 “Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country… if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up.”      - Rush Limbaugh show, Oct. 5, 1995 “The news that Rush Limbaugh is a pill-popping junkie who violates federal law in order to satisfy his addiction to narcotics has hit America like a ton of bricks…The haunting question that echoes across the land is: ‘What will we tell the children?’ “What do we say to the little ones, so young and so impressionable, who are being bombarded with stories of Republican depravity? The revelation that this country’s most successful broadcaster coerced a menial laborer to be his drug supplier coincides with the election in California of a man whose disdain for family values is an affront to every bible-believing citizen. How do we explain to the children the existence of such decadence in high places?” - Liberal commentator David Podvin, http://makethemaccountable.com/podvin/satire/031020_TellTheChildren.htm Conservative radio talk show hosts Michael Graham, Ken Hamblin and Mark Davis urge probe and/or prosecution of Limbaugh for involvement in illegal drug trafficking networks Rush Limbaugh, after stonewalling the charges for several days, still has not responded to, or denied, charges that he hired his maid to buy drugs for him and that one of his lawyers paid off his suppliers and tried to destroy evidence in the case. Limbaugh is the reported subject of a criminal investigation and has hired a criminal attorney who defended a Kennedy nephew on rape charges. A single felony count of illegally obtaining these drugs carries a potential penalty of five years in jail, and Limbaugh could face multiple counts. Conservative radio talk show host Michael Graham charged that Limbaugh's initial no-comment was tantamount to "pulling a Clinton" and that Limbaugh was reportedly breaking the laws of the United States and engaging in "repeated criminal actions to feed a physical desire." Clinton did it for sex and Limbaugh did it for drugs. "Instead of coming clean," noted conservative radio talk show host Ken Hamblin, he "appears to be maneuvering to get a free pass for violating our federal drug laws by slipping away to a secret detox facility." In his carefully worded statement, Limbaugh said that he was addicted to "prescription pain medication" that he started taking "when my doctor prescribed them to treat post surgical pain following spinal surgery." Limbaugh claimed to have taken the drugs because he was suffering from back and neck pain stemming from "unsuccessful" spinal surgery. He reportedly had an "inoperable pilonidal cyst" that kept him out of the Vietnam war. Yet he has been a regular golfer over the last several years. Was he golfing on drugs? Or were the drugs used on other occasions for other reasons? A message posted at the pro-drug web site smokedot.com says that, “…if the reports are true, there are a couple of important things to point out. First, he may have been prescibed painkillers at some point in the past, but then he started acquiring them illegally. That crosses a line. It also suggests that he wanted them for ‘recreational’ purposes. After all, it's not exactly difficult to get a valid prescription if you have legitimate pain (as Rush apparently did). In other words, why didn't he just go see his doctor?” Even if the story about back and neck pain is true, Hamblin said, “I don't find a lick of difference between what Limbaugh did and any other two-bit junkie who, after allegedly being busted with the goods, tries to lay the blame for breaking the law at the feet of poverty, racism or social insensitivity.” Hamblin, who himself suffered from excruciating back pain, noted that millions of Americans learn to manage their problems every day without getting addicted to drugs. “Unfortunately,” he said, “Limbaugh, the conservative whose opinions reflected the principles many Americans believe our country should stand for, failed the test. And he hasn't figured out how to accept responsibility.” Ann Coulter says that Limbaugh “has hardly been the anti-drug crusader liberals suggest,” and offers the Clintonesque defense that he was only abusing legal drugs. But as far as the law is concerned, the illegal acquisition of these narcotic heroin-like “painkillers” is basically no different than the person who buys marijuana or cocaine. Conservative radio talk show host Mark Davis said that, “Willful violation of controlled substance laws is a big deal, even when it involves someone I admire. He apparently was gulping shocking amounts of black-market pain pills. We cannot just let that go. So what is fair? A criminal prosecution, that's what. Limbaugh and his former housekeeper are the proper targets, and the consequences of any lawbreaking should not be mitigated because of Limbaugh's fame.” Graham says, “…how do you defend Rush's decision to spend six years involved in the illegal drug trade while simultaneously defending the rule of law? How can the man who successfully championed the idea that ‘character matters’ be excused for showing such poor character in the parking lot of a Denny's?” One possible explanation, according to a column by Paul Jacob, is that Limbaugh’s moral platform, including his claim of being “the epitome of virtue,” was just “rollicking facetiousness” not to be taken seriously. It was all an act, as the Newsweek cover story suggested. The likely outcome, assuming Limbaugh escapes prosecution, is that he will emerge on the air with a more libertarian or “tolerant” attitude on drugs and other lifestyle issues. And that would further damage the conservative cause. Whether you like or hate his politics isn’t the point here,” says Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Soros-funded Drug Policy Alliance. “As long as no one else was harmed as a consequence of his drug use, Rush Limbaugh should not face incarceration or otherwise be punished for what he chose to put into his own body… we also hope that the experience opens his eyes to the plight of the hundreds of thousands of nonviolent drug offenders behind bars in this country.”” Matthew Briggs, the director of publications at the Drug Policy Alliance, says that, “Rush Limbaugh should not face incarceration or be punished for what he chose to ingest in his own body. Neither should any other American, regardless of class, age or race…I hope, in fact, that his experience with the law further opens Limbaugh's eyes to the plight of the hundreds of thousands of nonviolent drug offenders behind bars in this country. I would be happy to welcome him to the growing national movement for drug-policy reform.” Libertarian Party says America owes talk host Rush Limbaugh a debt of gratitude, October 16, 2003 WASHINGTON, DC -- The entire nation owes radio broadcaster Rush Limbaugh a debt of gratitude, Libertarians say, because his ordeal has exposed every drug warrior in America as a rank hypocrite…The revelation that Limbaugh had become addicted to painkillers -- drugs he is accused of procuring illegally from his Palm Beach housekeeper -- has caused a media sensation… As the Limbaugh saga continues, here's an important question for Americans to ask, Libertarians say: Why are all the drug warriors suddenly so silent?..Libertarian Party executive director Joe Seehusen pointed out. "If this pill-popping pontificator deserves a get-out-of-jail-free card, these drug warriors had better explain why." Given their longstanding support for the Drug War, it's fair to ask: Why haven't President George Bush or his tough-on-crime attorney general, John Ashcroft, uttered a word criticizing Limbaugh's law-breaking? Why aren't drug czar John P. Walters or his predecessor, Barry McCaffrey, lambasting Limbaugh as a menace to society and a threat to "our children?" Why aren't federal DEA agents storming Limbaugh's $30 million Florida mansion in a frantic search for criminal evidence? Why haven't federal, state, and local police agencies seized the celebrity's homes and luxury cars under asset-forfeiture laws? Finally, why aren't bloviating blabbermouths like William Bennett publicly explaining how America would be better off if Limbaugh were prosecuted, locked in a steel cage and forced to abandon his wife, his friends, and his career? The answer is obvious, Seehusen said: "America's drug warriors are shameless hypocrites who believe in one standard of justice for ordinary Americans and another for themselves, their families and their political allies.” “Few Americans would disagree that some of the most serious problems facing America today – crime, drug abuse, AIDS, teenage pregnancy, child abuse, and so on – all result from a breakdown of values.” - Rush Limbaugh, “See, I Told You So,” 1993, page 350              Printer-friendly version Click here to be added to our mailing list.